Summary

In this activity, students will review the contributions of a selection of scientists that they have learned about throughout the chemistry curriculum. Students are provided with a clue about each scientist as well as the scrambled letters from each scientist’s name. By identifying each scientist and unscrambling the letters of their names, students will use select letters to solve a secret message. This activity can be a fun option for an end-of-year review.

Grade Level

High School

Objectives

By the end of this activity, students should be able to:

• Recognize the names and contributions of important scientists who contributed to the advancement of chemistry.
• Identify specific scientific advancements with the responsible scientists who have been studied throughout the curriculum.

Chemistry Topics

This activity supports students’ understanding of:

• Chemistry Review
• History

Time

Teacher Preparation: 5 minutes

Lesson: 15-20 minutes

Materials

• Student Handout

Safety

• No specific safety precautions need to be observed for this activity.

Teacher Notes

• This activity is a great way to review for the year-end final exam in general high school chemistry.
• Students will be tasked with recalling the names of several scientists. The clues are meant to be silly, yet representative of the scientists’ contributions.
• After students have successfully identified and unscrambled the names of the scientists, they will go back to the first row of the puzzle and record each letter that appears in a box (in the order that they appear). This sequence of letters will reveal the secret message.
• After students complete the activity, teachers could use Q&A, assign discussion groups, or give direct instruction to review the laws, concepts, and mathematical equations developed by each scientist.
• Though not a complete review of the entire course, the chosen scientists represent many topics that will have been covered throughout the year in an introductory/general chemistry class.
• An Answer Key document is available for teacher reference.